Day 5: Jerusalem, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav
Once again, wake up call is at 7am, and everyone shuffles down to breakfast. After salad and coffee, we trek off to the place I have been looking forward to the most: Jerusalem, the capital and the "bellybutton of the world." Our guide, Iftach, leads us through the ancient Zion Gate into the Old City after a toast at the viewpoint--between us all, there are definitely hundreds of pictures worthy of postcards. The Old City is made entirely of beige basalt stone, no wood or brick to be seen, and the buildings are draped in flowering vines and climbing bushes. The flowers, because we are forbidden to pick them, are all the more beautiful. The ancient excavated market is a good twenty feet below street level, and shining pieces of silver and gld jewelry glitter from every modern shop window. When we have finished with our twenty minutes of shopping, we clutch our gifts close and make our way to the Western Wall. Upon first sight, a few hundred yards away and up on a raised street, my breath catches. It is neither as long nor as high as I had imagined, but the sounds of people davening filter up while Iftach shares a little history. By the time we get down to the courtyard and separate the men to the left and the women to the much smaller section to the right, tears are already pouring down my face. This is it, this is the Wall, the most holy place in the world, and I, who am I to deserve this honor? I write a note on behalf of myself and my loved ones, and wait behind the layers of murmuring women for my turn to touch the ancient stones. Silently I approach. Trembling head to foot, I whisper a Kaddish, place my tiny note in the cracks, and pray in English when my Hebrew runs out. I lose all sense of time, silently weeping, snug up against women from all over the world. Then, suddenly, I stop. My trembling ceases, my tears halt, and I look up at the grass growing out of the wall just above my head. At just that moment, a songbird alights on the grass, cocks its head to regard the reverent people below, and takes off into the Jerusalem sky.
Esther Barth
